Christmas Eve Eve

Has this ever happened to you? Your spouse or "significant other" tells you something like "let's not spend money on each other this year". Let's just get "one or or two small presents" and spend money on other stuff, instead. Then you wake up on 12/23 and find all sorts of presents with your name on them under the tree and realize that, instead of relaxing, you'd better get your arse back to the mall...fast! That's where I'm headed today but first, this quick update.

Here are your updated hourly charts. You can clearly see that both gold and silver have found some price stability in their current trading ranges. Frankly, after last week, we all could use some price stability, regardless of where that price is. Now, having found a bottom, we need prices to break out of these ranges to the upside. For gold, that means a move through 1650. Silver needs to get back above 30. They both need to hold these breakouts and then move higher. At that point, another "Turd's Bottom" will be officially stamped and we can begin to move forward on 2012. Lastly, note that lease rates have moved decidedly higher and are officially back into a "neutral" area. Since we first remembered the correlation 16 days ago, the one-month rate has moved back up from -0.57% to today's -0.24%. This shows us that the overwhelming selling pressure of last week has abated.

OK, four items to help you pass the time today. First, this letter from Jackass Jim Willie. This is a very interesting and important read and you need to take the time to contemplate it.

Two items from Eric King's site have gotten a lot of attention in the last 24 hours. First, Eric posted another brief note from his "London trader". Granted, this "source" hasn't always been 100% accurate but he's been accurate enough over the years to merit your attention. In this case, what he says echoes in large part what The Jackass was stating above.

Well, that's all for now. I recorded a fun, new podcast yesterday and I will be posting it later this afternoon so please check back over the weekend and give it a listen. I'm off to fight the mall crowds. Pray for me. TF

Was over in Indonesia this week and with Au spot @1610-15, I visited a jewelry store and inquire on pricing. A 1kg. london bar was quoted at 1694/oz. A 1 oz bar was selling 1734/oz (99%). What was interesting was the buying price of 60 USD over spot. And when I visited a bank the exchange on the USD buying was the same as selling price. So there was no spread. For me this means, USD's and Au supplies are tight.

Perhaps you should consider security via obscurity, i.e., hide it in plain sight, like in a hollowed-out book, for example. Also, buy a safety box, fill it with enough goodies to make it look like it's yer real stash. Don't you have any friends that live in a rural setting?

My wife wants me to sell half my physical silver. She is against my physical PM only approach. Now that silver is 29ish, the price where we first bought silver bars a year ago, she is pressuring me to sell to prevent further loss of that particular batch. How can I convince her ?

Last night my sister and her family came over for a Christmas get-together. I asked my BIL if his college kids would prefer fiat or phyz. We decided to let them chose as an interesting experiment.

I went to my office and move Franklins from the tube to nice vinyl holders. I laid out a row of $20 bills with $1 in 90% on top of them. Paper or silver, I asked. Told them the melt value was $21 today. They picked up the silver and oooh'd and ahhhh'd over it, but all three ended up taking the paper. <shaking head> Both BIL and I were surprised at least one didn't snatch the silver.

BIL is lead council and VP of an insurance company. Out of all my acquaintances, he is the ONLY person I can have an intelligent conversation with about economic/financial/political events (Turdites excluded). Everyone else gives me a blank look when I breach the subject. I am going to stop trying to open peoples eyes...

Safety deposit boxes are not safe. It doesn't matter what the law says. After MF Global, safety deposit boxes are at risk of being swept up into a bankruptcy.

Get a box cutter and add few dummy switch plates.

Potted plants grow well with silver and gold for drainage.

Goldfish love gold in their gravel.

Go to the dump and get an old water heater to place in a closet. With a little work, nobody will notice it isn't hooked up (An old moonshiner trick, according to an old moonshiner who told me his house was raided and why they didn't find the hooch).

Don't hide your stash in anything that anyone would ever want to steal (inside a TV), empty (trash) give away (clothes) or maintain (the tank on your toilet or your real water heater.)

In my former house, I added an AC return vent to my hallway with a simple box cutter (and cut one 2x4) in a location I knew had dead space. Then I backed the vent with black paper. This allowed my to put my guns and other goodies in there when I traveled. It looked very natural.

Multiple stash sites are better than all your eggs in one basket

Thieves are lazy, add all sorts of hardware, machinery, and heavy items to your stash site.

Get as much costume jewelry decoys as you can. I like worthless currency and coins from overseas too. Put them in plastic sleeves like they are collectables and tag them with ridiculous price tags. Put the decoys over the stash locations so they steal them first.

90% of people hide things in the master bedroom, so avoid that, or consider placing a decoy there so they think they have everything and leave.

The kitchen is a great place to hide PMs, but thieves will look in the fridge. You can pull out the stove and hide things behind it. Stoves don't burst and leak water into the adjoining apartments like a water heater. You don't want to come home and find your landlord changed your water heater if that's where you hid things.

Depending upon the size of your stash, you can hid things in the fridge in jars, or inside a frozen block of soup. Make sure your significant other doesn't clean out the fridge! Hiding the weight is a problem, so you may have to scale up and bury things in a 50 pound bag of rice to disguise it.

Vacuums usually don't get stolen and the bags take forever to fill. Get an ugly old vacuum and fill the bag with PMs.

Ugly old furniture can hide anything.

Dig a moat with 50 friggin sharks with friggin lazer beams on their noses.

i have jokingly offered ASE to a friend as a payment for a private debt, i though he would scoff and say no way! But not at all! He was VERY interested, asked what it was currently worth, and wanted them for the balance!

I couldn't do it...lol should have 'cuase it was in my favor price wise.

I did give my friend's newborn a 2011 ASE, as he was born this year. I told the father, put this away for him, and i bet when he is our age, that could be quite valuable. The look on the mother and father's faces was a gift for me to cherish. See... even the heart of this old Grinch is warmed this time of year!

The satellite guru says it's a hydrazine tank - two fittings of different size at opposite ends of the sphere (one side is fuel, the other pressurization - He or N2). I'm betting it's part of a junked satellite or an upper transfer stage. These days, probability says European or Chinese. However, it can be US, Russian, Japanese, or Indian as well. I'd have to agree with a previous post that it looks like an Astrium tank (European).

You are in a world of hurt if your wife doesn't support your PMs. My advice is that she suffers from normalcy bias and doesn't believe it can happen to her in her lifetime. Take your stash and run or tell your wife she can sell her half, but she is never to raise the subject again. That has to be set in stone, or every little drop will result in an argument.

She's not a trader, so she wants to sell after a shake out. You can delay her sales, but she will never let you forget it if prices continue to fall.

TPTB haven't used up their margin hikes yet, and the system isn't collapsing just yet, so we are likely to see even lower prices ahead. I hope you are ready for that. The worst thing that could happen is you lose conviction and sell just before they step in to link fiat to gold, ramp gold prices, and print like crazy.

I stopped watching prices so closely when I realized they won't print until AFTER it's too late to buy physical. That means we gold bugs won't get our payout until after the old system is dead, and paper prices are irrelevant except with respect to future purchases. I don't even track my cost basis anymore because I know the system is doomed and a new system will prove me right.

Prince Phillip is considered by some to be the eye at the top of the pyramid. Fulford (gicher tin hat) has stated the "ongoing plan" (believe what you will) to wrest control from this elitist group centers simply on removing the eye, instead of the structure below, to replace it with another. Strike the root. The structure below, hapless and with their first true taste of fear, will simply follow a new leader or suffer the same directable fate.

Taken in context of his '88 quote, to have their power threatened by the very devil they bore would be the ultimate in karma.

The whole story is so fantastic it borders on unbeleivable even for those who already "see behind the curtain" (only to see another), and one can only hope there is a quantum of truth to any of this, as the rest of the world has certainly had enough of them - whomever they are.

Everybody needs to understand that gold and silver are not investments, they are money, the most sound money on the planet, and everyone should have some. Some means different things to different people.

I enjoyed listening to the Andy Hoffman podcast because he's one of the few I have heard openly admit to being 100% into PMs. I enjoyed hearing that because, aside from the house I live in, my assets are also 100% in PMs. I personally don't require much in the form of validation from outside myself for my decisions regarding PMs, but I understand that many people do require some assurances because they don't yet understand money and what is happening in the world of paper money right now.

A bit of hand-holding goes a long way and Turd's suggestion of a smooth cab should definitely help you both get in a good space. Good luck!

I bought myself a Christmas present last year, a Saiga-12. That's a 12 gauge AK type assault rifle. It will put out 8 rounds of single 0 buck in 2.1 seconds (that's 96 .30 caliber projectiles in 2.1 seconds. It's been very reliable and eats anything, having an adjustable gas port to use cheap ammo for training. Twenty round drum for our zombie friends

are on the same page. She and I talked about selling some PM's when they were near their high but we quickly ditched that idea. We believe things will appear to get better in the coming election year however, unless and until some fundamentals change we will just sit tight and watch as things unfold.

To any who have spouses who are not onboard for PM's and prepping, applying pressure unnecessarily will only cause more friction. Like anything, trying to find the source of the real insecurity or discomfort is the best option for finding a way around the resistance. Much discussion will most likely lead to the real source of the problem and allow for a resolution that is mutually acceptable. When I put my foot down and force my way, it usually ends up with her foot squarely up my arse, she's patient and crafty, never forgets until there is forgiveness.

We have also made a rule on preps and finance to never do anything when in doubt. If we are both not in total agreement, then we wait until either circumstances change or the situation changes. I have been married for ~25yrs and can say that every time I have forced my way, I have paid a price for my bullheadedness. When I have listened and tried the "really" hear what she is telling me, then the outcome has usually been much better for us as a family and couple.

The "my way or the highway" mentality most always leads to someone doing just that, hitting the highway, not the best outcome.

DISCLAIMER: The charts and analysis provided here are not recommended for trading purposes. Trade at your own risk. The Turd provides knowledge not direction. Turd holds no liability for your trades and decisions but he's happy to take credit when credit is due, particularly through the "donate" button. Read more...